Sheriff

There are something in us all who are drawn to know the deepest reason of our own existence.
I have found we all long to know and experience the very presence of God. Too many of us fail in that unending quest. We listen to others. We try all kinds things and fail. Like the little animal on treadmill running like crazy always seeking the promised prize just ahead but never getting there.

Sheriff

How was he still alive?? He had ALS for over 50 years??? Is that right?[/QUOTe
It is a mystery why he lived so long with ALS. Perhaps he had a disease that looked like ALS that had a completely different cause and course.

Legendary Cowboy

He was diagnosed with ALS when he was 21 and lived with it for 55 years

Scientist are working on the theory the younger age you develop ALS the better your chances of surviving and living with it.

Most people are diagnosed between the ages of 40 and 60 with ALS and have a 50% chance to survive 4 years. Some die within months of the diagnosis and there is only a 10% chance to live longer than 10 years with it if it is developed in these age groups.

However, In more than 10 cases of people who have developed ALS while young have lived very long lives and scientist do not yet know why people live long with the disease if it affects them at younger ages. This led to a theory that ALS affects those who develop it earlier in life to live much longer in 2002 in the British Medical Journal primarily focused on Hawking

For the first 20 years (until he was 41) his wife gave him 24/7 support on her own, until the US stepped in and provided a grant to provide him 24/7 professional nursing care for the remainder of his life

Federal Marshal

There are different types of ALS. Some symptoms affect swallowing, respiration, and speech and some are primarily neuromuscular symptoms. Rates of progression are unpredictable. That's about all I know and more than I understand about ALS.